The construction stone used to build Florence is pietraforte.

Unlike pietra serena, used more as a decorative stone, pietra forte is the true Florentine construction stone.
Historic palaces of primary importance, such as Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Medici, Palazzo Strozzi, Palazzo Pitti, just to name perhaps the most famous, were built with this magnificent stone.

The reason for this choice is ultimately simple: it is the stone quarried in Florence.
The quarries are indeed located in the city, within the Boboli Gardens, at Monteripaldi near the present-day Cascine del Riccio, at Maiano, and other places on the city’s outskirts.
The choice, therefore, was more of convenience than aesthetics.

The use of natural stone imparts a color to a city: it is the most typical and characteristic color of a place, as it is the earth itself that transforms into stone. And then into architecture.
What better environmental integration for a building made from the “stones” drawn from its own countryside?

The use of pietra forte has thus become the distinctive mark of this city, and architects of every artistic era have used it to build, through the centuries, Florence.

In recent times, Michelucci used it to reconstruct the missing buildings after the war, near the destroyed bridges, in the gaps in the center, at the Santa Maria Novella Station.

Then the quarries were exhausted, and pietra forte was no longer available. But its warm colors continue to be highly sought after and appreciated by contemporary architects.

The current alternatives, with the historic quarries closed, are offered by various other stones, which attempt to recreate the ancient emotion of the old Pietra forte.

The most used:

The Stone of Santa Fiora

The Yellow San Felice Stone

The Ancient Florence Stone

Each of these is a magnificent stone, which, while offering high technical characteristics, offers – unfortunately without succeeding! – the image of the old Florentine Pietra Forte.
Probably, the one that most recalls the image of the historic Florentine palaces is the Golden San Felice. The difference lies in the prices.

Some are expensive, others evoke the appearance of old Florence at very affordable costs. Ask us for more!